Easy Questions, Hard Answers
by 24vampiregirl
Summary: Takes place in New Moon when Alice is staying with Bella before going to Italy. A conversation between Alice and Bella that is mentioned in New Moon, but not written.


**_This takes place in New Moon, when Alice was staying at Bella's, but before Jacob comes around. Please Review._**

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_As soon as he was out the door, Alice sat up. Under the quilt, she was fully dressed._

_"So, what are we doing today?" she asked._

_"I don't know—do you see anything interesting happening?"_

_She smiled and shook her head. "But it's still early."_

I frowned slightly; I didn't like not having anything to do, so used to just getting up and seeing Jacob all day…I knocked that thought right out of my head. Of course Jacob wouldn't even want to see me now, he wouldn't step foot into our house until Alice was gone. Thinking about Alice leaving bought a spear to my heart, like the hole Jacob had helped sew up was ripping open again, stitch by stitch, slowly but painfully. But she was here now, and that's what matters.

My frown turned into a slight smile at that; though I knew it was inevitable that she would leave- she must be missing Jasper and the rest of her family- but I didn't want to even think about that. Alice just sat in silence while she waited for me to do some thinking. The silence was unusual, but not awkward; Alice was usually talking not stop happily about things that were going on, but now she was watching what she said carefully, as if not to upset me by mentioning the wrong thing.

I felt very guilty that the look she was wearing was the same one Charlie used to wear; wary and cautious, trying not to say the wrong thing. I sighed deeply; I hadn't fooled Charlie at all, all my efforts and attempts to try and be normal-or at least not zombie-like- had been a waste of time. I always saw Renee as the perceptive one, but in truth, Charlie had been just as observant. I was a teensiest bit pleased that he hadn't been able to tell the full extent of the damage; if he had, I wasn't sure if he had of coped.

I looked back up at Alice; her eyes were half aware, half not. No doubt searching into the future for something to do today. I watched as her eyes flashed back into the present, disappointed. She blinked a few times and looked back at me, a warm smile coming on her face, but I could tell the discontent in her eyes. If there was one thing I knew about Alice, it was that she liked to know what was happening in the future, especially hers.

"See anything interesting happening yet?" I asked hopelessly, knowing her answer already. She shook her head, but her face was concentrating on plans. I couldn't help but feel upset with her answer. I wasn't used to having spare time on my hands; it was usually something I went out of my way to avoid. Anything that could remind me was off limits, though with Alice here it was slightly better to remember.

She saw the look of confusion and distress on my face and came to sit next to me right away, her arm patting my back in comfort. I leaned my head over onto the top of her hair, the black spikes brushing against my cheek. I stared down at her perfectly ruffled blouse, flowing graciously along her body. Noticing her clothes brought my attention to my own sweatpants and tank top I had worn the day before; obviously I had fallen asleep last night before I had the chance to change.

I played with the slightly frayed hem of my top for a while as Alice continued to comfort me. After a few seconds she pulled my hand into hers, pulling me to my feet with ease, but not jostling me one bit. "Lets get you dressed then we will see about the rest of the day" she said lightly, not in the slightly strained tones she had used when she first arrived.

I let her pull me into my room, carefully guiding me up the stairs so I didn't fall over. I didn't really take any notice of my surroundings anymore, but Alice did. I saw her mouth drop open slightly before she recovered as she saw the empty state of my room. I had never really been a messy person, but I had taken to just throwing things on the floor after using them, in a hurry to get to La Push. Cleaning my room also made for a good distraction and excuse for staying up late, not wanting to relive my nightmares.

"Sorry" I mumbled apologetically as she scrambled through the clothes on the floor heading towards my closet. She searched through my scant remains of my wardrobe for a few seconds, before pulling out a familiar pair of old jeans and a blouse I had worn recently. I was a little bit surprised that she hadn't pulled out some of my more fashionable items she had got me last year or insisted on choosing a more flattering outfit, like she usually did. But I realised a moment too late that she was trying just as hard as I was to keep that flash of pain off my face I got when I remembered anything about him.

"Put these on" she said gently, staying in my room but turning away from me. I quickly removed my dirty clothes and dressed into the new ones, not wanting to waste one minute I had with Alice. As soon as I dressed I turned around, expecting her to be standing where she was before I had got dressed. Instead she was flitting around my room, picking up clothes and putting them into my hamper and staking books on the shelves. She moved fast but not at the inhuman speed that makes me dizzy to look at.

My face flushed a deep red, the first it had in a while "Sorry" I muttered again, just as she put the last book on the shelf. She smiled at me, exposing most of her glistening white teeth "No problem" she sung happily, but then her tone slipped into a more casual, but curious tone "What has been keeping you so…busy?" Alice asked lightly and politely, but I could see the real questions in her eyes "_Why is the place so messy? You were usually on top of everything here."_

"Jacob…La Push" I answered, seeing the hardening in her eyes as I mentioned the wolves "I spend most of my time down there" I said in a lower tone, hoping she wouldn't react like how she did when I first told her about the wolves. She just kept a casual mask on her face, but I could see she was bursting with questions. I looked around the state of the hallways as we headed to the bathroom. The place was a mess.

"I guess I should catch up on some chores" I told her, hoping it was okay and she didn't suddenly have something else planned "I should probably do something to make it easier for Charlie…Its not every day you lose one of your best friends". I was struck by the truth of my own words, thinking about how I had lost Jacob. But Jacob was fine, and I was sure that he would be back to normal when there were no vampires around, at least I hoped so. If Alice noticed my momentary pause, she ignored it and continued pulling me to the bathroom.

I brushed my teeth quickly while Alice ran the brush lightly through my messy hair. Within a few seconds I looked entirely decent, physically at least. I noticed how messy and unclean the bathroom was, deciding that was first on the agenda. "I should probably start with this room first" I told her, reaching under the sink to grab a few old rags and Comet.

Alice leaned against the doorjamb, offering to help many times, but I assured her I was fine. "What should we talk about today?" she asked me as soon as I poured some of the detergent onto a rag. Although I absolutely loved hearing about the rest of her family, I didn't think I would be able to survive if she told me any more about the family I had wished to join. That future was out for me. I shrugged my shoulders, hoping she would come up with something.

"How about you tell me about some of our old high school friends" she asked suddenly but nonchalantly. I sighed slightly, wondering how she would react to the lack of information I told her, but she had answered all my questions yesterday, so it was fair I answer hers.

"What would you like to know?" I asked, scrubbing the sink. She pondered for a second before replying.

"How's Angela? And Ben? Are they still together?" she asked in a rush, excited but curious. Thankfully, this was an easy question. Angela and Ben were some of the only people who had welcomed me back after I had started hanging out with Jacob.

"Their good. And still together" I told her, silently wishing I could have told her more about them, after all, Angela and Alice had got on rather well. Alice smiled and nodded, pleased at this bit of information but I could tell she was hoping for more. When it became clear that I couldn't tell her anything, she asked some more questions about our other classmates.

I continued to tell her all about the little dramas at school, or as much as I could tell her. For once I was thankful for trying to engage in conversation with Jessica last week, knowing if I say the right things she could start gossiping. Alice nodded her head at points, and shook her head on others. I moved around the room, cleaning the showers and the walls as we continued to talk, running through most of the things that happened at school.

"What about Mike?" she asked "Do you see him much these days?" her questions were quite easy to answer, but she always seemed to see deeper into them. And although her face stayed casual, I could tell she was processing everything that came out of my mouth.

"I see him almost everyday at school. And at work" I told her honestly, not mentioning that I hardly ever talked to him properly. Mike still didn't get the message I was not into him, and was holding a slight grudge, thinking I was into Jacob.

"Ah" she sighed "What about you're other friends. Do you ever hang out with Angela after school?" I could tell my answer was not what she wanted.

"Not really" I said "She has Ben…her brothers…And I normally hang out with Jake after school and in my spare time anyway". The familiar look of concern washed over Alice's features again and I knew it was in reaction to me hanging out with a wolf every day.

"How about the others? Jessica? How is she?" Alice continued to ask, after a few seconds of awkward silence. I gritted my teeth, not really wanting to tell her about the...situation with me and Jessica at the moment, or the reasons behind our broken friendship.

"I don't really spend much time with her" I said truthfully "I talk to Angela during school". I felt somewhat guilty that Alice's easy questions were the biggest challenge for me to answer.

"What about you?" Alice asked softly, I looked at her with an expression that could only be confusion "What have you been up to since-"her sentence cut off, and she recovered gently and carefully "since we have been...away". I was even more shocked then she was that the reminder of her departure hadn't ripped at the hole in my chest any further.

"Jake, Charlie, School, chores" I looked at the state of the bathtub I hadn't cleaned yet "More Jake then chores". Alice sighed lightly; I could tell she had hoped I had more of a life after she had left. I filled the bathtub full of comet and started scrubbing with some old rags. The cleaner scratching against my skin was a good distraction from the pain of not seeing Jacob. After another few minutes, Alice started asking more questions about my day.

"I'm guessing you don't normally do this every day?" Alice asked, glancing at how much comet I was using to get the stains out of the bathtub.

"No. Not as much as I should. I guess I don't have much time free anymore". The concept almost made me laugh; after spending all efforts to get rid of spare time, I now realised how little of it I have, which was definitely a good thing. We continued to talk about small, seemingly petty issues for a while, touching on only light topics.

_I was literally up to my elbows in Comet, scrubbing the floor of the bathtub, when the doorbell rang._


End file.
